SPLK-2002 Practice Exam 4 — 20 Questions

Question 1

What is the primary function of the 'search_factor' in an indexer cluster?

Accepted Answer

The number of searchable copies of each bucket. The search_factor dictates how many copies of the searchable data are maintained in the cluster to ensure high availability for search queries.

Answer

The maximum number of concurrent searches

Answer

The number of indexer peers in the cluster

Answer

The number of search heads allowed in the cluster

Question 2

A customer needs to decommission a single indexer peer from an Indexer Cluster without losing data. Which step is mandatory to ensure all data is safely migrated to other peers?

Accepted Answer

Run 'splunk remove cluster-peers' on the CM. Putting the indexer into 'maintenance_mode' or using the 'splunk remove cluster-peers' command allows the cluster to redistribute buckets.

Answer

Force a cluster bundle update

Answer

Delete the indexer directory on the CM

Answer

Simply shut down the indexer service

Question 3

You are troubleshooting a Search Head Cluster where a member node cannot join the cluster. Which log file on the node is the most useful for diagnosing the communication issue?

Accepted Answer

splunkd.log. The 'splunkd.log' file contains detailed information about search head cluster communication, heartbeat, and member joining processes.

Answer

web_access.log

Answer

audit.log

Answer

metrics.log

Question 4

Which THREE configuration changes are required to enable bucket freezing to an external archival location using a custom script?

Accepted Answer

Set coldToFrozenScript. Setting coldToFrozenScript, ensuring the script is in the path, and setting the frozenPath are required.

Answer

Change index replication factor

Answer

Enable indexer clustering

Question 5

What is the impact of having too many small buckets in an index?

Accepted Answer

Degraded search performance due to high overhead. Small buckets increase the number of file handles and metadata entries, which slows down search performance due to the overhead of scanning many files.

Answer

Faster data rolling

Answer

Reduced disk space usage

Answer

Improved search performance

Question 6

What is the effect of using the 'tstats' command in a search?

Accepted Answer

It queries the TSIDX files directly, improving speed. The 'tstats' command operates on indexed metadata (TSIDX files) and is significantly faster than standard searches for aggregate statistics.

Answer

It increases the number of concurrent searches allowed

Answer

It bypasses the parsing queue

Answer

It forces the use of more CPU cores

Question 7

Which TWO methods are recommended to optimize search performance when dealing with large datasets?

Accepted Answer

Use data models and acceleration. Using indexed fields and leveraging data models are the two most effective ways to optimize searches.

Answer

Use the 'transaction' command

Answer

Increase the number of indexers

Answer

Disable all authentication

Question 8

When designing a large-scale multisite cluster, which factor most significantly impacts the search performance when running searches across all sites?

Accepted Answer

Network latency between sites. Cross-site network latency is the biggest bottleneck for search performance in multisite indexer clusters.

Answer

The number of buckets per indexer

Answer

The number of users

Answer

The number of search heads

Question 9

Which THREE factors should be considered when planning the hardware requirements for a multisite indexer cluster?

Accepted Answer

Disk I/O throughput. Disk I/O, network bandwidth between sites, and CPU capacity for concurrent indexing/searching are all critical for cluster stability.

Answer

The color of the server chassis

Answer

The number of concurrent web users

Question 10

A Search Head Cluster (SHC) is experiencing frequent 'captain election' issues during high-load periods. Upon reviewing the logs, you notice network latency spikes between nodes. Which parameter in the SHC configuration should be adjusted to allow for more tolerance in node communication?

Accepted Answer

heartbeat_timeout. The heartbeat_timeout setting in the SHC configuration controls how long a node can go without a heartbeat before it is considered down, which can be increased to mitigate network latency issues.

Answer

election_timeout

Answer

replication_factor

Answer

search_timeout

Question 11

Which THREE of the following are valid states for a bucket in an Indexer Cluster?

Accepted Answer

Cold. Buckets transition through hot, warm, and cold states during their lifecycle in an indexer cluster.

Answer

Active

Answer

Pending

Question 12

An architect is designing an index lifecycle for compliance. The requirement is to keep data for exactly 7 years. Which setting must be configured to prevent premature deletion?

Accepted Answer

frozenTimePeriodInSecs. frozenTimePeriodInSecs must be set to the equivalent of 7 years in seconds.

Answer

maxTotalDataSizeMB

Answer

maxWarmDBCount

Answer

maxHotSpanSecs

Question 13

When configuring a Search Head Cluster, what is the purpose of the 'deployer'?

Accepted Answer

To manage the replication of search configurations. The deployer is used to distribute configuration bundles (apps) to all search heads in the cluster.

Answer

To coordinate the election of the captain

Answer

To act as a load balancer for users

Answer

To store the search results for the cluster

Question 14

Which TWO of these are valid methods for controlling bucket retention?

Accepted Answer

maxTotalDataSizeMB. Retention is controlled by time or size (total disk space).

Answer

maxWarmDBCount

Answer

maxHotSpanSecs

Answer

index_auto_delete

Question 15

You are designing a multi-site Indexer Cluster with two sites. To ensure search availability during a site failure, which configuration is mandatory in the site_replication_factor stanza of server.conf?

Accepted Answer

Define explicit replication counts for each site using 'siteN' syntax.. In a multi-site cluster, the total replication factor must be the sum of site-specific replication factors, and each site must be explicitly defined to ensure data is distributed across sites.

Answer

Enable search_factor to 2 for all sites.

Answer

Set replication_factor to 1 on each site.

Answer

Set cluster_mode to 'multisite_master'.

Answer

Configure the indexer as a site-local peer.

Question 16

You notice that your indexer cluster has buckets in a 'Searchable' state but some are marked as 'Streaming'. What does this indicate?

Accepted Answer

Bucket replication is in progress to other peers. Streaming buckets are typically related to the replication of data from a primary to a secondary node; if they stay in this state, it may indicate replication lag.

Answer

The bucket is corrupt

Answer

The indexer is performing a hot-to-warm rollover

Answer

The data is being archived to cold storage

Question 17

Which THREE conditions must be met for an indexer to be successfully added to an Indexer Cluster?

Accepted Answer

The indexer must have network connectivity to the CM. The indexer needs the same pass4SymmKey, network access to the CM, and to be in an uninitialized state.

Answer

The indexer must be running on the same OS version as the CM

Answer

The indexer must be designated as a search head

Question 18

Which TWO types of storage can be used for indexer data?

Accepted Answer

Object storage (SmartStore). Splunk supports local storage and network storage (NAS/SAN) or object storage for SmartStore.

Answer

USB flash drives

Answer

Search head cache

Answer

Temporary memory storage

Question 19

What is the primary function of the 'Cluster Secret' in a Splunk Indexer Cluster?

Accepted Answer

To secure the communication between cluster nodes.. The secret acts as a shared password to ensure that only authorized peers can join the cluster and communicate with the Cluster Master.

Answer

To define the replication factor.

Answer

To authorize search head access.

Answer

To manage indexer licensing.

Answer

To encrypt data in flight.

Question 20

Which THREE of the following are common causes for a Search Head Cluster member to lose contact with the captain?

Accepted Answer

Service load is too high causing timeouts.. Loss of contact is often due to network issues, replication port blockage, or excessive load causing timeout.

Answer

License master is offline.

Answer

The indexer cluster is busy.